Bhubaneswar: Street Fight Of Covid-19 Front-line Warriors Enters Sixth Day

Bhubaneswar: Braving the winter chill as mercury continued to dip in the capital city, nearly 400 auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) from around 22 districts of Odisha spent the night on the streets on Thursday.

The ANMs have assembled at the Lower PMG square here since the last six days to protest their disengagement from service. They are demanding regularisation of their jobs.

The ANM staff said that they were engaged in several Covid Care Homes (CCH) across the State during the peak of the pandemic outbreak and when the situation is gradually normalising now, they find themselves disengaged from duty abruptly.

Speaking to OTV, an agitating ANM said, " We risked our lives serving patients in several CCHs during the peak time of Covid-19 outbreak in the State. But now, the government has thrown us out of duty. I appeal the concerned authorities to re-engage us and regularise our jobs," she said.

"It's been six days, we have been spending days and nights on the streets but the State

Government has been continuously ignoring us. They are yet to come up with a proposal for negotiation," said another ANM.

The health care workers have also threatened to intensify their stir if their demands are not accepted by the government at the earliest. The state government is yet to respond on the matter.

Recently on November 2, over 100 ANMs, who were posted at different Covid care facilities in Sambalpur district, had staged a demonstration outside the Collectorate and the Covid hospital in Sambalpur demanding re-engagement and regularisation of their jobs.

https://youtu.be/HKtdFwJfwis